Chapters Thirty–Thirty-three

Summary: Chapter Thirty

Robert Jordan thinks to himself as he walks back
from Primitivo’s post. He struggles with the conflict between wanting
to follow orders and believing that the orders are useless. He remembers
his family. His mother bullied his weak father, who finally committed
suicide with the same rifle that his own father had used in the
American Civil War.

As Robert Jordan imagines a tremendous success in the
next day’s offensive, he realizes that the bridge-blowing operation
won’t be called off because those making the decision won’t be able
to help themselves from imagining the same success he imagines.
The certainty calms him down.

Summary: Chapter Thirty-one

Robert Jordan and Maria lie in his sleeping bag together.
Maria says that she is sore, so they decide not to have intercourse,
although Robert Jordan privately thinks that this bad luck the night
before blowing up the bridge is a bad sign. Maria offers to bring
him to orgasm some other way, but he declines.

Robert Jordan says that he’d rather not talk about the
present, so they imagine their future life in Madrid. Their reverie
is briefly interrupted when Maria reveals that Pilar predicted that
they would all die tomorrow. Pilar’s indiscretion angers Robert
Jordan.

Maria then talks about the day she was captured. The Fascists shot
both of her parents against a wall. Her father was the mayor of their
town, and his last words were for the Republic. Maria’s mother’s
last words were about Maria’s father. The Fascists cut off Maria’s
hair, gagged her with her own braids, drew the letters UHP (Unión
de Hermanos Proletarios, a Communist association) on her forehead,
and then took her into her father’s office and took turns raping
her. Maria wants Robert Jordan to know that she struggled
the whole time, and that Pilar suggested that the violent incident
may have left Maria infertile. Robert Jordan promises that they
will get married. After she falls asleep, he calms his anger by
telling himself that both sides have committed atrocities in the
war. He wishes that they could have made love and admires Maria’s
mother’s last words.

Summary: Chapter Thirty-two

In Madrid, Robert Jordan’s friend Karkov arrives at his
apartments at the Hotel Gaylord and greets his wife and German-speaking
mistress. Karkov finds out that the German commander has been telling everyone
about the next day’s offensive. A puffy-eyed journalist for the
Russian newspaper Izvestia informs Karkov that La Pasionaria (a
Communist orator whose real name is Dolores) has brought news that
the Fascists have been bombing their own troops near Segovia.